A Level Psychology OCR Practice Exam

A tachistoscope is specifically designed to display visual stimuli for very brief periods of time, typically to study perception and visual processing. This device can project images onto a screen with precision timing, allowing researchers to control the presentation duration. By showing stimuli for such short durations, the tachistoscope helps in investigating how quickly and accurately individuals can perceive and respond to visual information.

This is particularly useful in psychological experiments that examine attention, memory, and the limits of visual processing, making it an essential tool in cognitive psychology. The other options do not align with the primary function of a tachistoscope; for instance, it is not used for audio stimuli, recording brain waves, or measuring reaction times directly, although results from research using a tachistoscope could offer insights into reaction times related to visual stimulus processing.